TUESDAY, Feb. 10 (HealthDay News) -- Although migraines and their associated disabilities are prevalent and carry a high societal and economic burden, they are not generally considered a serious medical condition, according to a report published in the January/February issue of Value in Health.

Elisabeth Hazard, Ph.D., of IMS Consulting in Falls Church, Va., and colleagues performed a review of articles that studied the economic burden of migraine in the United States. The first of these articles was published in 1994.

Through this review, the investigators found that individuals with migraine are generally underdiagnosed and undertreated. Migraines generally affect individuals during their most productive years, and therefore those who suffer from migraines experience major losses in functioning and productivity, leading to financial burdens for health care systems as well as employers, the report indicates. The authors conclude from a review of published studies that migraine is a progressive disease that carries cardiovascular, cerebrovascular and long-term neurologic comorbidities.

"Current studies have begun to suggest that migraine is a progressive disease that can cause vascular and long-term central nervous system damage," Hazard and colleagues write, adding "both the treatment and economic evaluation of migraine may require major reconsideration."

This study was sponsored by a grant from Ortho-McNeil Neurologics, Inc.

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